Boat anchor with releasable flukes



April 18, 1961 T. H. WHEELER BOAT ANCHOR WITH RELEASABLE FLUKES Filed March 20, 1959 INVENTOR 7TH, WHEEL ER ATTORNEY United States; Patent 2,980,051 BOAT ANCHOR WITH RELEASABLE FLUKEs Timothy H. Wheeler, 804 Saratoga Blvd.,

' .lacksonville, Fla.

Filed Mar. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 800,836

1 Claimf (Cl. 114-208) This invention relates to a novel boatvanchor of Aextremely simple construction having latch means for normally retaining the anchor flukes at a proper angle relative to the anchor' shank to enable the anchor to proper-V of the aforedescribed character 'the latch means of whichV will not be inadvertentlyreleased by a jerking pull on the anchor shank, such as commonly occurs when an anchor is holding aboat in rough water, and under which circumstances it is essential Vthat the anchor not be released from a holding position.` t

Still a further object of the inventionA is to provide an anchor wherein the lilukes are .held immovably relative to the shank, when the anchor is latched in an operative position, whereby unlatching of the ukes may be accomplished only by a steady pull of a predetermined amount to avoid accidental release of the anchor flukes.

vthe chamber 12. kThe bore 16 being of smaller diameter than the diameter of the chamber 12 combines therewith to define an annular shoulder 17 around .an end of the bore 16 and at the inner end of the chamber 12, as best illustrated in Figure 3.

The intermediate portion of a shaft or spindle 18 isl journaled in the sleeve 14. Theshaft 18 has end portions extending outwardly a substantial distance from l each end'of the sleeve 14. iAn anchor linke 19 is se- Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure l is an elevational view, partlyin vertical section, of the boat anchor;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional View, partly in elevation thereof, taken substantially along the line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional View, similar to Figure 2 but showing the anchor in a released position, and j Figure 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view through a part of the anchor, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 4-4 of Figure l` Referring more speciiically to the drawing, the boat anchor in its enti-rety is designated generally 6 and includes an elongated anchor shank 7 composed of an outer section `8 and a tubular inner section 9.

The outer end of the outer section 8 is provided with an eye 10 by means of which an anchor rope, chain or other flexible element, forming a rode not shown, may be secured to the anchor 6. Said outer section 8 has a restricted threaded inner end 11, for a purpose which will hereinafter be described.

'Ihe inner shank section 9 which is hollow or tubular has an elongated bore portion 112 forming a chamber at one end of the shank section 9 and which has an internally threaded open end 13 to threadedly receive the threaded end 11 of the shank section 8. The other end of the shank section 9 is formed by a tubular crosshead or sleeve 14 which is disposed crosswise to the axis of the shank 7 and which is formed integral with a part 1S of the shank section 9, which extends betweenl the chambered end portion 12 thereof and the tubular crosshead or sleeve 14. Said part 15 has a bore 16 which cured to and projects transversely from each of said shaft ends. 'The anchor flukes 19 may be embedded or otherwise secured in the shaft ends, as indicated in Figures 2 and 3, for securely connecting the ukes to the shaft. The flukes 19 have inner edges which contact or substantially contact the ends of the sleeve 14 to .prevent sliding movement of the shaft in said sleeve. Conventionalpheel members 20 mayy be connected to the ends of the shaft 18 with portions projecting from the shaft in directions away from the linkes V19 to assist, in a conventional manner, in causing the ilukes 19 to embed themselves in the bottom of a body of water. l

The shaft 18 is provided with a socket 21 which opens outwardly of a partof the periphery of said shaft, which is located intermediate of t-he shaft ends and which socket 21 is capable of movement into andy outof alignment with the bore 16.

lA latch pin or plunger 22 is slidably mounted in the bore 16 and has a at head y23 at one end thereof which ts slidably in the chamber 12 and which is of larger diameter than the bore 16. The latch pin 22 has a tapered or frusto-conical opposite end 24 of a propershape to conformably iit the inwardly tapered socket 21, when said socket is disposed in alignment with the pin 22 and bore 16. A compression spring25 is contained in the chamber 12 and has one end bearing against the outer side of the head 23 and an opposite end bearing against the inner end of the threaded part 11, for urging the latch pin 22 toward a projected position, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

A retaining pin 26 has a snug fitting engagement in aligned openings 27 and 28 of the shank portions 11 and 13, respectively, to prevent the shank section 8 from being unscrewed from the shank section 9 when the pin 26 is applied. The shank section 9 is provided with a fitting 29 through which a lubricant can be supplied to the chamber 12 for lubricating the latch pin 22, the sleeve 14 and the portion of the shaft 18 which is journaled in said sleeve.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that when the shaft 18 is turned in the sleeve 14 to align the socket 21 -with the latch pin 22, that the compression spring 25 will then project the latch pin 22 toward the shaft 18 from its retracted position of Figure 3 to its projected position of Figures l and 2. In the projected position of the latch pin .22, the tapered tip or end 24 thereof will conformably seat in the socket 21 to latch the shaft 18 against rotation in the sleeve 14. Also, in the projected position of the latch pin 22, the head 23 thereof seats against the shoulder `17. When the shaft 18 is latched by engagement of .the pin end 24 in the socket 21, the coplanar anchor ukes 19 are disposed at an angle of approximately 60 to the anchor shank 7, as shown in Figure 2. The anchor 6, in this yits normal operative position, is utilized in a conventional manner, assuming that an anchor rope or other llexible element, not shown, is connected to the eye 10. Should one or both of the anchor ilukes 19 -become fouled, while the anchor is in use, as by catching under a submerged log or other object, the linkes 19 can be released from their Paiented Apr, 1s, 1961 operative positions of Figure 2 to enable the anchor to be retrieved. This is accomplished by a substantial increase in the pull exerted n the anchor shank 7 over the pull to which the anchor shank had previously been subjected in holding the boat. As Ithe pull is increased the scope of the anchor rope or cable will be reduced since the boat will initially be drawn toward a yposition over the anchor. Thereafter, the pull is increased suiiiciently to cause the latch pin end 24 to be cammed out of the socket 2.1. When this occurs, the anchor `shank 7 rotates relative to the shaft '18 toward the position as shown in Figure 3 and wherein the shank is disposed in alignment with the flukes 19. When this occurs, the ukes 19 can be pulled directly from beneath the 'sunken objects on which the ukes were fouled and in a direction in reverse to the direction of movement of the iiukes into position under the sunken object, and sothat the anchor 6, with the ukes 19 thus unlatched from an operative position, can be readily retrieved. It will thus be seen that the ukes 19 can be released only by torque applied to the shaft 18 resulting from a leverage force applied to the shank 7.

It will be noted that in the normal operative position of the anchor as seen in Figure `2 and when the anchor rope or cable has sulicient scope, the rope or cable will extend in substantially a straight line and as a straight extension from the shank 7, so that regardless of the amount of pull exerted by the anchor rope on the shank 7, there will be no tendency for the anchor ukes to become unlatched. Likewise, no swinging movement of the ukes relative to the shank can occur while the anchor is latched in an operative position. Thus, the latch. pin 22. cannot be cammed to a retracted or released position by -swinging movement of the shank 7 relative to the shaft 18 and which could otherwise cause the carn surface of the pin end 14 by engagement with the cam surface of the socket 21 to cam the pin 22 Ito a retracted position and thus unlatch the flukes 19.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from -the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A boat anchor comprising an elongated shank having a tubular crosshead at one end thereof and a rode attaching eye at the other end of said shank, a shaft having a portion journaled in said crosshead and disposed approximately crosswise of the shank, ukes fixed to and extending laterally from said shaft, said shank having a hollow portion, one end of said hollow portion opening into the crosshead and the other end thereof terminating intermediate of the ends of said shank, a latch pin having a close tting sliding engagement in a part of said hollow portion, a compression spring contained in another part of said hollow portion `and bearing against and urging the latch pin toward said crosshead and to a projected position with one end of the latch pin extending into the crosshead, said shaft having a socket disposed to receive said end of the latch pin in one position only of rotation of the shaft, said end of the latch pin being shaped to conformably fit in the socket for latching the shaft with the flukes in an operative position at `an exact predetermined angle relative to said shank, and said latch .pin end and socket having coacting cam portions for camming the latch pin out of engagement with the socket to release the lshaft for swinging movement of the ilukes to an inoperative position solely -in response to a torsional force exerted on said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,415,605 Newby Feb. 11, 1947- 2,511,286 Millen June 13, 1950 2,576,172 Burleson Nov.l 27, 1951 2,629,357 Jones Feb. 24, 1953 2,709,980 Christie June 7, 1955 2,851,983 Hrivnyak Sept. 16, 1958 2,870,731 Marshburn et al Jan. 27, 1959 2,914,015 Farr Nov. 24, 1959 

